Keshia is British National Champion

Another weekend, another title...well, in this case two titles as keshia won Under 16's and Open division.


Keshia had the opportunity to go to Fristal and enter the British National Championships, organized by  Surfinggb and UK Pro Surf Tour.

Forecast looked good although cold, so it was a task for Keshia that she was not used to. Full thick suit, booties, hood, gloves, local kids were all prepared for that kind of weather, we were not.......

As flights from Portugal are now only to London ( even airlines know its too cold to go surfing in Newquay in the winter :) we had to fly into London and drive down to Newquay.

Its a good 5 to 6 hours drive so Keshia only managed a quick surf on Friday afternoon, as it gets dark at 15:30...... seriously ?? another adjustment there !

Saturday morning and, of course, Keshia was in the first heat, 08:30 and it was off ! It was an eye opener to see all this kids stoked for the good waves and so happy to go surfing, in the mean time, Keshia was inside the car, trying to get changed, with a hot water bottle :)

She braved through the waves and weather and survived to tell the story another day :)

Sunday was the same with Keshia in the first heat.

The swell had picked up and Keshia was starting to adapt to conditions by putting in some great scores and winning all the heats.

Finals of Under 16's and Open were almost at the end of the day and conditions held until the end.

Keshia had excellent waves scoring 7's and 8's and leaving the girls, in the Open final, needing almost combination scores.

It was an amazing achievement for Keshia and shows you can go to a spot where you have never surfed before and still come out with a win. Cold weather is no excuse.....hahahah

This means that Keshia has ended the competition year with another National title, this time in the UK and becoming Under 16's and Open British National Champion.

Thanks everyone that made this possible, all staff, organizers, sponsors and of course parents, Surfing GB and UK Pro Surf Tour. We will see you again next year.



All photo credt to Surfing GB and Rob Tibbles :)

Keshia is Under 18's National Champion 2012

This weekend was the last round of the Nationals. 

4 events count and Keshia had already won 3 which meant that she just needed to turn up for her heat to win the title. The waves were much smaller than expected and, Sao Pedro being such a slow fat right, was leaving it open to anyone to take the win. Obviously Keshia wanted to go one better and win all 4 of the events and make a clean sweep to take home all 4200 points but the waves did not come to her in the final and she had to be happy with a 2nd place finish. With that, Keshia wins the Under 18's title once again with just over 500 points ahead of 2nd place. Also, as she was champion last year, she was allowed to enter the Boys Under 18's and there she finished in 10th place overall.

Another fantastic result and a great way to finish the Portuguese Nationals Season.

Portuguese National Champions

Sooruz Royan Atlantique Pro Junior

What a fantastic start for Keshia and Luis on the Pro Junior Tour :)

It all started with a very early morning wake up call ( 4am ) to go to the airport and fly to Bordeaux. Royan is a new event on this years ASP Pro Junior calendar and everyone was excited to see what this spot had to offer.

A direct flight always helps and makes the trip hassle free, oh so we think.  Arriving in Bordeaux and going to Lacanau was plain sailing, leaving Lacanau 2 days later to go to the event, was not so easy. Keshia left with Team Oakley without any problems but Luis was almost considering walking as, the car that was meant to take him to Royan, broke down just before picking him up, there were no taxis and everyone he knew had already left that morning. Anyway, like anything, things work out for the best and eventually he was safe and sound at the O'Neill base :)

Thursday was the first day with smallish waves but pretty good conditions, sunny and little wind. They put the girls in all the way to the 1/4 finals and Keshia was a true champion fighting through every heat. In the 1/4 final unfortunately, she did not find the back up wave she needed to move up to the semis but overall an excellent 9th place qualifying.

So it was time for Keshia to relax and give her support to Luis.

Luis was in heat 10 of round 3 and as they stopped the contest, on Friday by heat 8, it meant it was another day for Luis to free surf, get used to the new location and be ready for a marathon run on Saturday and Sunday.

Condition were not the same ones as the ones we were greeted on the first day ( I think the locals just planned a nice welcome weather and waves for us on Thursday )

Windy, big and messy was what stayed with us for the final two days which made surfing harder for everyone and set everyone a nice challenge.

Luis scored high and sailed through his heats on Saturday all the way to semi finals, 3 heats , amazing high scores and lots of fun.

His semi final was, in his words, one of the best heats in his life. With 25 minutes gone in the heat and no scores, no one knew what they needed to advance, then they announced that Luis needed an 8 for 2nd......! Panic on the beach by Keshia, Luis seemed to have it under control and saving the best till last scoring in the last 5 minutes, a 7.5 and a 6.80 guaranteeing him a place in the semi final.

A good rest on Saturday night, warm bath and a some healthy food seemed to do the trip for Sunday morning, which again awoke with grey skies, rain and howling winds.

Semi final was another exciting heat with very close scores between 1st and 3rd but Luis made sure he was the one advancing to the big final :)

An amazing result for Luis getting 3 of the top 10 heat wave scores and 4 out of 10 best wave scores.

With that, Luis has moved up to be ranked nr 9 in the Pro Junior season.

Next event brings us down to a well known site to everyone, Sopelana, which will take place during the last weekend in July.

A good 10 days break for both of them but, no time to rest ( although I think Luis will need some sleep tonight after the celebrations that went down last night )

Tomorrow is another day, the event is over and its back to work !

Thanks everyone so much for all the support and its great to see that hard work pays off !

Until next one, here are some amazing shots from the event. Thanks ASP Europe, Royan Glisse and Xavier Renaudin for the shots and coverage.

Sooruz Royan Atlantique Pro Junior

Ericeira Surf Club contest

Its always good to finish a week with a podium :)

A crazy weekend for everyone in Ericeira with a Summer Fest running for 3 days with skate demos, music, DJ's etc but of course, some work had to be done and we also had the Ericeira Surf Club Contest. A very well attended event as you get the chance to surf one of the best waves with one 3 other people.

As Keshia won the girls last year, she was allowed to enter another age group so, much to the boys annoyance, she did the boys Under 16's.

Luis only entered OPEN as next categorie is Masters and he is not quite there.........:)

Perfect waves for Saturday put both Luis and Keshia in all 3 finals.
Luis killed it in his heat with scores ranging from 7's to 9's in almost every heat.

Sunday was slightly smaller but still pretty nice conditions and plenty of waves for everyone.

Luis didnt give anyone a chance in the final and won with a significant difference from the rest of the competitios. He also won all the prices as, the other finalists decided not to turn up on the podium so, all glory went to Luis :)

Keshia did well in the boys, getting set waves and bringing them in all the way to the inside and having a very close match with the boys.

Same in the girls between 1st and 2nd place with the heat finishing with only a 0.10 difference in their scores.

A great weekend for everyone, thanks to Ericeira Surf Club and all the sponsors.

Surftotal press release

Keshia's May surfing :)

Here is a video of Keshia surfing during last month :)

Some great waves and water coverage, thanks to Rui Jorge Oliveira !

Thanks everyone and to watch, just click on the link below.

May video

Video releases

This week we have had some video releases.

Two profile ones of both Luis and Keshia and two contest events in Porto for the Open National and the Juniors in Aveiro.

Click on the links below to watch the videos.




Keshia win during the Aveiro Nationals :)

Luis' profile on Surftotal TV

Open Nationals in Porto

Keshia's profile on Surftotal TV

Open Nationals in Porto

After two events close to home, this one was all the way north of Portugal.

Sometimes its good to travel away from home and be able to surf waves we are not used to, it offers a bigger challenge to everyone and opens up the event :)

Porto is a beautiful city with lots to offer, from the obvious and the reason we went there, being the waves to the culture, food and the ever so popular river front.

The contest was run over 3 days but due to the small conditions, we had a few hours to become " tourist " so we took a trip to Porto and sampled the local delicacies :)

As for the event and results, both Luis and Keshia had a great performance. Both winning their first rounds heats convincingly with scores high in the double figures.

The last day was left for the 1/4 finals of the boys and finals of the girls.

Luis did not manage to get through to the semis, the waves were tricky and Luis was staying on the outside waiting for the set to come to get a good scoring wave, Marlon Lipke opted to stay on the inside where he managed to find some small wally waves. The scores were very close but Luis did not get the set wave he needed and ended up finishing his run in Porto with another good 1/4 final finish.

That means that in the general rankings, he is holding 13th place :)

Keshia was already in the finals on the last day but had strong opposition and although she did not need a high score to move up to 1st place, she also did not have Neptune on her side.

Rankings for Keshia are still high and staying put in 2nd place.

Thanks to everyone that follows the comps and results and we will keep you posted as usual :)